the syrian capital rocked by massive twin blasts targeting the army's at command headquarters with the rebel group the free syrian army reportedly claiming responsibility. in the ongoing syrian violence dominates the u.n. gathering with calls for us to step down threats to intervene intensifying harsh rhetoric fails to bring countries any closer to finding a solution to the crisis. the live pictures for you right here thousands of greeks walking around the country's parliament enraged at looming austerity cuts in forced

international creditors these are certainly a familiar sight downtown athens outside the parliament building live pictures for you right here. and at the same a show of discontent in spain has already led to violence from protesters brutally beaten in madrid by police trying to stop thousands from storming the parliament. worldwide news live from moscow city center this is our with me wrong. and straight to syria now where massive blast struck the capital damascus on wednesday morning the free syrian army has claimed responsibility for the terror attacks to targeted major government buildings a fierce gun battle has now reportedly broken out of the site of one of the

explosions and. is in the region with the night just. two massive explosions rocked the syrian capital of damascus early on wednesday morning they happened to near the top of the army and. it was just minutes apart they also happen not far from one of the main squares of the capital city now they shot at the glass of windows of nearby buildings with some people reporting hearing those explosions several kilometers away in fact some eyewitnesses have gone as far as to say it was the largest explosion in damascus since fighting broke out there several months ago this part of the city is covered now with huge plumes of smoke the ambulances rushed to the scene the police have cordoned off the area to prevent traffic and people from getting closer we were also receiving reports that the ministry of defense is on fire now the syrian information minister has said that the explosions were caused by two roadside bombs one of which he says may have been planted inside the grounds of the army command headquarters he did deny initial

reports that there were casualties saying that no civilians or army personnel had been hurt in these explosions and this does seem plausible because it happened at around seven o'clock in the morning local time the explosions also occurred not far from the headquarters of syrian state television they are calling them terrorist attacks and they come just one day after rebels blew up a school building in damascus which they say was being used for military training so certainly the situation in the syrian capital extremely tense with a string of attacks now coming almost daily. but his policy reporting right there will be intensified terror attacks on the syrian capital however did not receive much condemnation from you when it's general assembly is meeting right now during this week in new york instead it's called for regime change that are growing louder with the u.s. president barack obama setting the mood by reiterating his comment to forcing

bashar assad to go into one of the states bill. to be supplying the syrian rebels with weapons called on the arab nations to intervene in syria bypassing the world body he's going to fortnight has been following the hot issue being addressed right now in new york. was every world leader or high figure that took to the podium at the united nations general assembly on tuesday did address the crisis in syria the secretary general ban ki-moon described the war in syria as a regional calamity with global ramifications he urged the international community to act quickly with consensus before he says the crisis spirals out of control some western leaders took a more aggressive approach with their rhetoric french president francois alon said that the syrian government of bashar al assad has you know if you're among the international community and crowds on the u.n. to immediately cried protections for the syrian opposition groups that are

currently occupying the northern part of the country u.s. president barack obama also released some criticism additional criticism of bashar al assad saying that time has come for his government to go and the u.s. president also said that the international community should support the vision that the syrians have for the future of their country now we do know that the u.s. and its western allies have been pushing for regime change in syria have been pushing for sanctions against syria russia is among the countries that believes diplomatic approach taken to the crisis in syria where i dialogue between the government and the opposition house to be created the united nations is still divided over how to resolve the problem in syria of course one of more important well russia reaffirmed his commitment to peace efforts in syria so the foreign minister started off with u.n. special envoy lakhdar brahimi on the sidelines of the gathering and promised full

support for the mission and commenting on the western proposals on syria voice to the un dr howland and from foreign policy in focus said it's the persistent call for regime change that ultimately brought the situation to a stalemate in the first place. you cannot call for the replacement of a regime and then expect to have a diplomatic solution so when president obama said that has to be replaced well then who's to do negotiating team to me is that the solution here was the regionally basically the one that both russia and china oppose which is that you get a cease fire you don't talk about regime change at this point that's part of the negotiation as part of the diplomatic process and i don't see that happening so long as the united states and france and turkey and the gulf cooperation council particularly are in saudi arabia are trying to initiate in junior regime

change somewhat discouraged about where it's going to go from here but if it doesn't have a diplomatic solution i think the ripples are going to be just disastrous. well it's going to be a world leaders not the only ones addressing those gathered at the u.n. headquarters in new york julian a son to still ensconced in the ecuadorian embassy in london despite his status as a political refugee he will also be making an appearance though a virtual one via video broadcast i hear it out say we will exclusively bring that live to you on wednesday at twenty two thirty g.m.t. . i.

fly from moscow this is our team now are thousands of greeks have gathered in athens for the latest protest against the government's austerity measures workers walked out on a general strike over the cuts and the greek government is negotiating a new round of belt tightening in order to receive the next portion of vital loans from international creditors it's expected the nationwide strike will bring the country to a standstill with flights halted and public services all shut down. for this i must protest in athens comes a day after madrid saw fierce clashes between enraged protesters and police numbers that over sixty people were injured in scenes of police brutality and thousands were on the streets to rage against austerity cutbacks and the hike in taxes and grieve see managed to get into the thick of it all. tens of thousands of people were out on the streets in numbers but then it turned someone on it was so protesters throwing projectiles that police there's also

a constant thought of fireworks being set off in and around the amassed house with them police moved in in force and they pushed back those demonstrators chased down making forcible arrests we see a large number being detained a large number being injured in the proceedings that followed taken away by ambulances now this has been a recently dogs occupied the parliament and the intention originally was so round the parliament here in madrid and try and get their message over and see us there see a global cuts to health care spending in education the salaries and shops what actually was used as part of was the display on both sides we've heard the chant throughout the course of the weapons our hands now when it comes to austerity well we're hearing reports as a budget on this issue will be discussed late this week by the correspondence government projecting the budget for next year and we're already hearing that

potentially there could be a freeze when it comes to cuts the health care cuts to spending on education that could really be seen as a backlash from what we've seen so far yes demonstrations that have been golfing spain amateurish in recent months. and a more violent as predicted in the spanish capital on wednesday as organizers of the protester reportedly going once again to try and storm the country's parliament building carlos duc last sociologist he says that the economic turmoil in spain has turned a whole generation of citizens into immigrants. the question of whether or not this is worth it is a question for the government and for the troika of the european union what you're seeing out here right now is the spanish and by extension the european citizenry reacting against austerity austerity right now is at a level worse affecting people's daily lives is affecting whether or not people can

get medical attention is affecting whether or not people can advance socially reggi cation social progress what you're seeing is a country where i am entire generation is being relegated to a class of immigrants people that have been invested with public money to be educated are now going to move out and generate wealth in other countries that's not a project for a country being wild child poverty in spain is an increase exponentially the first thing that the government can do is call for a referendum on paying back the debt and on the constitutional amendment that they may. you can find a much more on the mass protest and a further violence on the streets of madrid on our website odyssey that you will find photographs of the brutal police response us officers fired rubber bullets and batons charged protesters a witness accounts and views from protesters available at r.t. talk. live from moscow this is r.t.

thanks for joining us today the rolling wave of protests over a prisoner abuse scandal in georgia it's gaining momentum as even now crossed the atlantic hundreds of georgian nationals got that outside the united nations where president mikheil saakashvili was delivering a speech to the general assembly the protesters demanded the georgian president along with prosecutor officials take full responsibility for their implication in the prison brutality scandal several thousand students also packed into the georgian capital to voice their anger over the shocking video taken in the prison the protests are all coming just ahead of parliamentary elections in georgia on the first of october leaving president saakashvili. scrambling to save face and seriously undermining his writings. coming up for you just a bit later in the program here are saving the lives of pilots but showing no mercy to civilians the death toll from u.s. drone strikes in pakistan is much higher than previous speaker. the pope's

of being minister top british politicians get caught up in scandals over the business links they just can't seem to keep their hands out of the cookie jar plus . chinese people boycott japanese goods over the disputed pile of conflict forcing the top production the sea. and all the stories off the shore break. in this remote sign the rings in which people still sing the sounds which russians sang in the media ages and they cherish the nation practiced by the rules that our church before the seventeenth century the old believers here is signed area our conservative community here known as the simi scheme the word which refers to

family. the day uglies need to hear yes i think. i know i'm the first to do it the. people here are happy to show their way of life to tourists and to see them how to dance in the local star. you simply have a girl needs to watch her legs don't go up too much during the dance she must be modest. seventeen year old nanda is from. the same village she now studies in the city and dances at a club. she puts on her costume and the traditional amber necklace only when she comes to visit her grandmother. ok.

i didn't ask on time for her downstairs because i want to keep up to date with this morning world but still i would like to have camp my background how my ancestors layered and this is my treasure their attachment to the church brought. to this remote land deflate by call more than two hundred fifty years ago they were exiled in persecuted for not agreeing to the orthodox who forms introduced in washing the sixteen hundreds they wanted to maintain their time honored rituals the old believers still bolland cross themselves with two fingers not with three as they do in modern orthodox churches in russia and never knew when praying but this fall the city says it's not so much the rituals they cherish as the moral principles he does not approve of what is doing as a group to build believe a woman must never show her naked legs and. things started to spoil during the soviet union. was more and more young people leaving for big city this year is the

old believers culture could be imperiled nowadays young people prefer urban life to devoting their lives to agriculture but it's not necessary to leave it inside israel has to remember that and try to keep their. plans to continue her studies abroad to grandmother says wherever she goes as long as the queues are fresh in her memory so is the quick turn.

welfare support for many already struggling it seems a number of top politicians. lifestyles. of the country's business elite. explains. the london headquarters for shell second largest company in the world can you get that far without having friends in high places apparently not it's

a march that the oil giant has been cozying up to none other than the u.k. business secretary dr vince cable cable's been described as the moral center of the coalition government he's even pegged by some to succeed nick clegg as leader of the liberal democrats but it's all been called into question his links to the company behind me he acted as chief economist for the company in the mid one nine hundred ninety s. in the leftist sense of the business secretary from the c.e.o. of shell back in march of this year the oil executive thanked the right on rebel m.p. for being the contact minister for shell during cable's time that shell are faced with a number of lawsuits including and i could station a whole thing up a violent act to ship and a summary execution of nine activists in nigeria but fifteen million dollars later that was settled out of court the company's questionable human rights record hasn't affected easy access to u.k.

government officials just last month it was revealed that shell around so-called schmooze with the senior government minister has disguised this training course says but just how close is too close defense minister liam fox found out last year he had to stand down from his job offer that as best friend businessman adam verity had accompanied him on eighteen different meetings overseas this year culture secretary jeremy hunt was revealed to have just been so friendly with the bosses of news international that he exchanged hundreds of text messages with them while overseeing that bid to take over the largest broadcasting company in the u.k. hunt wasn't sacked but moved on to become head of the health department many observers say it's the u.k. ministers lack of accountability in relation to accusations such as these that concerns them the most. you are watching the war

available on our website of course r.t. dot com. for example. relative to. a plane crash. very soon on the program for another drone strikes in pakistan killed and

traumatized more civilians than the u.s. government is willing to admit an independent report from two of america's top law schools serious misrepresentation of the lethal strikes. of. the brave new foundation the study opens the door for more accurate information. the government said it's exceedingly rare that civilians have been killed as a result of these drone strikes they even say they do they put the number in single digits which is absurd based on a host of different organizations that battle these things there has not been the kind. of critical reporting that should happen on something of such a magnitude another problem is how the government classifies people in this region any male of the age of eighteen is considered a militant by the government's own. two faced accusations about who is who is targeted how they are targeted who is

a militant what milton actually means the government there are too many contradictions for this to be true so. it is definitely worrisome. before we get to the r.t. business bulletin let's do the r.t. world update now we'll start in with this one hundreds of people in the u.k. are being forced from their homes as heavy rains continue to fall and one driver was lucky enough to escape the floodwaters when an emergency worker was able to push her car to safety and several others had to be rescued by lifeboat by the ukase environment agency warns the waters are likely to rise further. an egyptian newspaper has published a series of cartoons in response to the offensive caricature of the prophet mohammed that recently appeared in a french magazine one cartoon shows the burning world trade center through a pair of spectacles with the caption western glasses for the islamic world or another shows a flashlight painted with an american flag highlighting an arab man holding

a bloody knife of a true picture of islam goes on seen by many egyptians have applauded the cartoons as a civilized response to the french publication. demonstrators are rallying outside a south african courthouse where political activists julius malema is charged with corruption he's accused of more proceeds from a legal public contract and using the money to buy himself a car and a big plot of land to support and see the charges of the government's attempts to silence him malema meantime has used the recent unrest in south africa's minds in his criticism of president jacob zuma. and there's a lot he's i don't you wish we could see you again daniel other confidence we all know about it goes on between china and japan over these disputed islands but now it's really affecting business chinese people refusing japanese goods in protest of this force toyota it's a real slow production in china the world's biggest car market off the collapse sixty percent of the top japanese firms already halted production of the security

fears china is the country's biggest trading partner it all helps in the tokyo stock market today to another low over in europe more gets hit by. general striking greece over fresh spending cuts there the euro is near when we lows on the greenback of the violence and you'll start to protest in madrid as you can see there the ruble having another bad day and shortfalls in moscow's rise in u.s. crude stockpiles and the price to seven week lows that's hurting energy stocks in particular and russia is making the biggest push yet to transform which crumbling infrastructure selling forty six billion dollars in government bonds the economy ministry is boring because the overall roadways gas fields and airports as well as build a new ring road run the moscow region the bonds of being called an exceptional investment for foreign traders. talking about long term high yield guaranteed bonds backed by the state who would want those in your portfolio it added and banking giant says

general says this slashed exposure to spanish debt as it moves to get rid of its riskiest assets the news comes on fresh violence in madrid responders protesting a new round of austerity chief executive frederick i did he's always told the exposure to spain's sovereign debt while also cutting holdings in other troubled peripheral uro's states island portugal greece and italy. says he's shifting his investment focus to russia calling it a much more profitable market with much higher potential europe today will have more stories i always a pleasure to see you see in. just a few minutes here on out he will be talking to our effort william engdahl certainly a big insider and some call him a bit of a speaker as well he's got his input on what he says are washington's ultimate goal is in the ongoing crisis in syria this is our.

he won't come to the line fish for a swimming bird you can catch both at the premier maritime deviation show of the summer check out a whole family of russian engineering feats of the flick ships truly fly or just go with the flow and take in the view of the bay below but hold on there could be turbulence on board the plane it's only jet powered in p.b.'s plane. bringing carolyn up of the world's most colorful choppered and you've got a team bring to douse any flame technology i'm doing here on a launch we've done the future of covering.

the friendship asian of russia has started again after two hundred years up at the . jet the emperor napoleon has arrived from overseas to lead the army i have to really take my time to prepare myself to get it right i know. the bloody battle near moscow is going to start over . james brown will reveal. the soldiers about to do it all again. as you know version twenty twelve r.t. . good laboratory was able to build a. mission to teach me. why you should care

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with so many burning issues in the world today it's important that we're all as informed as we can be now one man that's more informed than most is william and bell geo political analyst and author of the book myth lice and oil wars and he joins me right now thanks very much for speaking to us thank you syria is of course the main issue at the moment globally just how close are we to seeing a foreign military intervention in that country well the worst in particular washington has been trying for seventeen now eighteen months almost to blow syria's sky high in.